Customer Reviews

The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata

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J.A.B. van Buitenen's translation has an illuminating clarity and is excellent for a first time read, especially for readers with a western background. The transliteration is on the left-page side and the English on the right. There is also an indepth scholarly introduction and many useful footnotes.

This is the finest English-language translation of the Bhagavadgita that I have ever had the pleasure to read. It is clear, reads elegantly and pelucidly, and gives the reader a roman-letter version of the Sanskrit text on facing pages. The introductory notes are illuminating as well, firmly setting the Gita within the frame and context of The Mahabharata for the reader -- this is helpful to no end. Every other English-language version of the Gita that I've read is hide-bound in comparison -- ham-fisted, hijacked by the "translator's" own agenda, or somehow tangled up and tripping over itself in one way or another. Here we have the elegant and respectful scholarship of J A B van Buitenen -- his work is lit up from within. There is humility and wonder in the weaving of his translation and he allows the Gita to truly shine and sing out with as little disturbance as possible in the move across into English. An astounding work of craftsmanship, spiritual humility, and scholarship. As much as possible while moving from one language to another, he lets the Gita sing for itself. Thank you, van Buitenen -- you may no longer be with us, but your work lives and breathes on.

I received this item in a a timely fashion and am reading it right now. The packaging was very good and protected the book well.